I almost feel sorry for Republicans this week. They’ve spent five years now fighting against their Cold War-era muscle memory to condemn Russia for everything, thanks to the full-throated embrace of Vladimir Putin and his geopolitical aims by former President Donald Trump. And now, as the overwhelming majority of the planet comes out firmly against Russia’s imperialist war against Ukraine, conservatives are left with a major case of Russia whiplash, leaving them scrambling to figure out who is really to blame for some of the worst fighting in Eastern Europe since World War II. While the entire world has essentially agreed that the culprit is Putin’s bloodthirsty imperial expansionist agenda, America’s right-wing elite are struggling to reconcile the obvious truth in front of them with their need to blame the world’s ills on whomever Trump isn’t defending at the moment.
Suffice it to say, they’re not having a great time of it.
